Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Decreases Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lowered its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ADP. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 94,265.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,770,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,617,256,000 after buying an additional 6,763,553 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter worth $531,416,000. Imprint Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 24,743.9% during the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 987,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $98,780,000 after purchasing an additional 983,819 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $217,670,000 after purchasing an additional 930,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $752,703,000 after purchasing an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.52 during trading on Thursday, hitting $243.42. The company had a trading volume of 97,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,800,650. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $247.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.18. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.46 and a fifty-two week high of $256.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The business had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859 over the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ADP shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.58.

About Automatic Data Processing

Automatic Data Processing, Inc provides cloud-based human capital management solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Employer Services and Professional Employer Organization (PEO). The Employer Services segment offers strategic, cloud-based platforms, and human resources (HR) outsourcing solutions.